garmin gps 18 USB-to-Serial bridge driver

hey i have a garmin usb gps 18. i have iguidance installed and cant get it to connect to my usb gps. the iguidance website said that i need a usb to serial bridge driver. does anyone know where i can find the driver? i tried going to the garmin website but they dont have anything in the download section.

You can use Franson GpsGate to get your Garmin 18 USB working as a serial GPS device that outputs NMEA data. They have a free trial too, so you can see if it works for you before buying. It's quite a handy piece of software, with support written specifically for the Garmin 18 USB.

As far as I know iGuidance will not work with Garmin 18 USB even if you use GPS Gate. Other software may work in such configuration, for example MS Streets & Trips does. IGuidance however requires an NMEA sentence [GGV(?) if memory serves] which at the moment the above mentioned setup does not provide.

If you're talking about the GPGSV sentence, then you are correct, GpsGate does not output GPGSV data from a Garmin 18 USB. (GPGSV is the satellite data.) Why would iGuidance need the satellite data in order to function, though? For navigation, the satellite data is pretty irrelevant. Location, speed, direction, etc. is more what you need for navigation, and all that is provided with the sentences that GpsGate does transmit from the Garmin 18 USB.

Either way, at least GPGSV will be supported in GpsGate 2.0, which supposedly is on its way soon.

I recall, about a year ago when GPS Gate 1.1 was released with the Garmin support, an iGuidance user was unable to get it working properly and the makers of iGuidance confirmed GSV sentence was required.

yea i tried everything to make my iguidance work with my gamin 18. i get the time and altitude and coordnates but iguidance does not show me on the map. anyone want to buy a brand new gamin gps 18 usb???????